


28 Floors

by assholemurphy



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Arguing, Elevators, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:12:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4674824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/assholemurphy/pseuds/assholemurphy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathan Miller is late to work, extremely late, and he's going to miss one of the most important meetings of his career if he doesn't get up to the 31st floor immediately, so really, is it so hard to understand why he didn't bother to wait for anyone else to get on the elevator before pressing the door close button? No. No, it's not, but Monty holds different beliefs.</p>
<p>Monty Green is beginning his second day of work at one of the most annoying offices in this ridiculous city and he hasn't been there long but he hates his job, his best friend, their cat, their neighbor, his life, and just about everything, but he doesn't hate it half as much as he hates the man in the elevator beside him. Was he a jerk to do what he did? Yes. Did he regret it? No. Okay, well, maybe a little.</p>
            </blockquote>





	28 Floors

**Author's Note:**

> For Kim. Happy birthday, dear. <3
> 
> Based on the prompt: I saw you trying to hit the “door close” button in the elevator but I made it in and then I pushed every single button to make you later for work, but now we’re stuck in this fucking elevator as it stops at every single floor and I don’t know what to say other than “You started it.”

Miller had never committed a murder before, in all his reckless youth, in all the slightly less than legal things he'd done as a teenager, that was the one line he hadn't crossed, but right now, he was beginning to consider it. It was appropriate, considering the circumstances. Miller was serious, if his annoying roommate shut off his alarm and made him oversleep one more time, he was going to kill him. To death. He meant it. Whether it had been an accident or not, he didn't care. He had a meeting that started ten minutes ago, a very important one, at that, and Murphy had made him late for it.

Those were the perks of living with writers, though, and he supposed he probably should look for a different roommate, but he was twenty-five and he had hoped that the next place he moved into would be with someone he actually wanted to live with. A one bedroom place, preferably, but, considering he spent most of his time working on presentations and making connections, he never really had the time to look for anyone, so he was left with one night stands and a roommate he really wanted to strangle at least twice a week. And making him late was one of the worst things Murphy had ever done.

In all his time working at his office, working his way up the ladder into a position of respect and relative power, he had only been late twice, and both times he had had a good excuse. He didn't have that today, but he really wished he did because this meeting was either going to guarantee him a promotion or leave him where he was for another three months and this was not the impression he'd been hoping to make. If he couldn't be counted on to show up on time, he couldn't be counted on to do anything else, and that kind of impression was not going to get him a promotion or any respect.

He checked his watch as he waited for the elevator, the only one that wasn't being swarmed by business suit clad employees, praying that he would make it to the meeting before anything important was covered. The seconds ticked by mercilessly, quickly draining away the precious few minutes Miller had left to make it in time. A little lateness could be excused, he hoped, as long as he didn't miss out on anything big and have to ask for someone to repeat it for him. Nothing said 'irresponsible and incapable' like having to borrow someone's notes because he hadn't been there. That would be a nightmare, he couldn't even begin to think of how embarrassing that would be.

God, he was so screwed.

Finally, after what felt like years of waiting, the elevator arrived and the second the doors opened with their overly cheerful ding, Miller was inside it, pressing the button to his floor. Distantly, he heard a shout from someone in the lobby, but he was too absorbed in his own panic to pay it much attention. Beside, if someone wanted on they could wait for one of the others, Miller reasoned, he was late and his rudeness could be excused just this once. It was the first time he'd ever been purposely rude and he figured he had a little leeway given the circumstances. He pushed on the door close button, not bothering to wait for anyone else because he did not have time to stop at every floor on his way up just to let people out, or in, and then repeat the process infinitely until he missed his meeting entirely. No, he needed up to the thirty-first as soon as he possibly could, and if that meant being a little rude, then so be it.

The shouts came again as he pressed the button once more, hoping that it would hurry up and close, and Miller finally looked up to see someone rushing towards him, holding out a hand in a desperate attempt to stop him just as the doors began to close. He felt a bit of guilt but he didn't stop the doors, his panic outweighing the guilt by far. His meeting was more important than anything else right now. His career was on the line and he had no choice. He was sorry, he really was, but he couldn't afford to wait.

Monty hurried towards the elevator, calling out to whoever was inside to hold it, to wait a second, but instead the man inside began to manually close the doors, completely ignoring him and he couldn't believe it. What kind of self-absorbed, impolite jerk would do that to someone who just wanted to get to their floor? It wouldn't cause but a few seconds of inconvenience and it was basic manners. All he needed was an elevator, just to get to his own job, the same as everybody else in the building, and it was unfair to be such a blatant ass.

Monty's week had already been horrible, probably one of the worst in his life, never mind the fact that it was only Tuesday. He'd fought with Jasper over something trivial on Sunday, he couldn't remember what it was already, but Jasper was still upset and Monty was still certain he was in the right about it. Then, as if his Sunday hadn't been bad enough, when Jasper had stormed out, their cat had gotten out and found it's way into his neighbors house and he'd had to wait three hours for her to return and then he'd had to pay for the damages, which wasn't as big of a problem as it could have been, considering he'd just started a new job so he was no longer unemployed. The job in itself, however, was not the greatest. IT support for one of the older companies in the city, something to do with landscaping, but he hadn't actually cared about what they did so much as what they paid, and he could safely say, it wasn't enough. Not enough to deal with these dinosaurs who could barely send an email yet somehow were in charge of a company. The were terrible, utterly incapable of understanding even the basics of technology, and Monty was completely baffled as to how they'd managed to stay in business for so long.

His week had not been good at all, and he had hoped today would be a little better, but it seemed like the trend of everything going wrong was going to continue. He watched as the elevator doors began to close and made a choice. He was determined to get int that elevator if it killed him. He was not going to let anything else go wrong this week, end of story. And if this guy wanted to be rude, Monty would gladly do the same. He was just itching for an excuse to finally be an asshole and get back at someone, anyone, just so he wasn't the only one suffering and, yes, it was petty, but dammit, after the past few days he'd had, he deserved to be a little petty.

Monty sped up, sliding through the closing doors, just barely making it in time. The doors closed shut behind him and he had to check to make sure he hadn't caught anything in them. Once he knew he was in the clear he turned to the elevator's control panel, having already decided that if the man was going to be that much of a jerk then he would be, too. It was childish and it would only hurt him, too, in the long run, but his anger had clouded his rationality and he began pressing the buttons, lighting them up one by one, reveling in the way it felt to finally be the ass for once, instead of being on the receiving end.

Miller watched in horror as the guy deliberately pushed each button, not stopping until all forty-seven of them were lit up, their lights staring at Miller and mocking him with their numbers as they screamed at him that he was never going to make it in time now. They were right and Miller almost wanted to give up right there. To just curl up in a ball on the floor and be done with it because this was the complete opposite of what he had been trying to do and, oh, god, this was a disaster. No matter how great his presentation would have been, it didn't matter now, because he was never going to get to give it. He had spent a month and a half working on it and now it didn't matter.

“Why did you do that?” Was all Miller could manage to get out, wanting nothing more than to slam his head into the wall because there was no way he could just get off and get a different elevator, not with as packed as the building was today, he was lucky just to get this one and now it was going to take years for it to reach his floor. Forget the promotion, he would be lucky if he didn't get _fired._

Monty glared up at him, defiant, “You started it.” All the man had to do was hold the door for two seconds. He deserved this and nothing he said was going to change Monty's mind.

“Are you kidding me? Are you really- This isn't happening,” Miller shook his head, refusing to believe what was going on. Not only was this brat responsible for making him even later than he already was, he was going to stand there and act like it was no big deal? Like it was a game? “Thank you. Now I'm going to miss my meeting. Which I was _already_ late for, so thank you. Really.”

“You're welcome. Maybe next time you should hold the door,” Monty shrugged, leaning against the elevator's wall as the doors opened to the second floor. He wasn't about to feel bad, not when it was the other guy who lacked manners. If he'd held the door like a decent human being, then this wouldn't have happened. Instant karma. Be rude, get your day ruined. Monty was done with everything in the world going wrong for him. If the rest of the world could be jerks, then he could, too.

“Hold the- They were three other elevators! Why this one?” Miller asked, unable to comprehend the situation fully. Why couldn't he have just found another elevator instead of making Miller's day a thousand times worse? He had just wanted to make it to his meeting, that was all. He did not deserve this. He was a good person. He put up with Murphy, he volunteered at an animal shelter on Sundays, he helped little old ladies with their groceries. He was a good person, he didn't deserve this, he really, really didn't. He almost broke down and cried right there as he watched all of his hard work go down the drain, but somehow, by some miracle, he managed to maintain his usual stoic composure.

“Because I was running to this one, that's why! You're the only person in here, the others were full,” Monty explained, glaring at Miller. Then, as if proving his point, “Why didn't you take one of the other elevators?”

“Because they were full,” Miller reluctantly admitted. Still, even if he should have held the door, this guy had no right to press every button . Who was this brat anyway? Miller was sure he'd never seen him around before, and he knew he would have remembered someone as cute as this guy. Too bad he was a complete and utter pain. All the cute ones were, it was like a rule of the universe. Miller could never find someone he was attracted to who wasn't trying to destroy his life in some way. IT just didn't happen. “You still had no right to press all of the buttons.”

“Whatever,” Monty huffed, crossing his arms. Maybe it had been rude, but so was not holding the door when someone asked you to. They were both at fault. “You should have just held the door in the first place and then this wouldn't have happened.”

Miller let out a groan of frustration. Of course he had to be stuck in an elevator with the most stubborn jerk in the building. Never mind that he was adorable and under any other circumstances Miller would have probably considered asking him out. Forcing them to stop at every floor was about the most childish and petty thing he could imagine someone doing, and he lived with one of the most childish and petty people on the planet. He couldn't believe this was happening to him, and all because of some brat whose name he didn't eve know. He figured it wouldn't hurt to ask, at least it would make it easier to file a complaint against him, which Miller was seriously considering doing. “Who are you, anyway? Do you even work here?”

“Yes, I work here,” Monty replied, offended. “I work on the twenty-eighth floor, I'm the new IT guy. You know, the one you call when you can't remember how to start your computer?” He had only started yesterday and already he hated this place. Everyone was either incredibly rude or incapable of operating the most basic technology.

Yesterday he had been brought along to no less than eight separate false alarms that had been solved by, yes, turning it on and off again, and his day had ended with some ignorant human resources worker spilling coffee on his computer and declaring it was entirely broken and they had to replace it all despite only the keyboard being messed up and, god, Monty hated his job. It was only made worse by the fact that the one person who worked here who wasn't older than his parents and reasonably -okay, incredibly- attractive happened to be standing right next to him and was the reason today was going to suck, too. He was too young to hate life this much.

He needed a drink. He needed to call Harper and get drunk and forget how much he hated being twenty-two in a world where having a degree in computer engineering meant you got stuck working the most boring jobs imaginable because the field you actually wanted to work in wasn't hiring. Maybe if he got drunk enough he wouldn't regret spending all that money on tuition.

“I can start a computer,” Miller defended himself, not appreciating the jab. He was one of the most competent workers here and he'd proven himself capable time and time again and he was still being insulted by assholes with superiority complexes and a compulsive need to _ruin everyone's day_. “I work on the thirty-first floor, a trip that usually takes a minute or two tops but now has taken longer than I've ever spent in an elevator, so thank you for this experience, it's been amazing. I'm a junior projects manager and I _was_ on my way to a meeting that would have more than likely resulted in a promotion but now will likely end up getting me fired because _I'm not there._ Thank you, for that, by the way. It's a dream come true.”

Monty winced, the confession making him feel a little bad. He hadn't expected the guy to get fired because of this. Maybe he should have thought it through a bit more. He really needed to work on his impulse control. “Look, I didn't mean to get you in that much trouble. You can blame me, I'll explain what happened.” He wanted to vent some of his frustration at the jerks who'd been making his life hard but in turn he'd become on of them, albeit on a smaller, more petty scale. He shouldn't have been that much of a jerk, there were plenty of ways he could have vented without hurting the people around him, especially strangers he didn't know.

When the words finally processed, the sarcastic insult died on Miller's tongue and he stared at the guy in shock, the complete turn around throwing him off. He had expected more sarcasm, maybe another shot at his skills with technology, but not an apology, and certainly not an offer to take the blame, even if it was rightly his. He fumbled his words a bit before finding the right ones, shaking his head and muttering, “I shouldn't get in _ that _ much trouble. I doubt they'll actually fire me,” His anger faded slightly, the look on the guy's face making him want to tell him it was okay or kiss him or something. Yes, he was going to miss the meeting, but it was the first time he'd ever done anything like it, so they would most likely be lenient with him.

Monty just shrugged, looking away from the man and watching the doors closed again as the elevator took them from the seventeenth floor to the eighteenth. “At least we know the elevator works,” Monty offered, trying to joke but knowing it was a sad attempt. He was great at defusing situations, but not ones he'd caused. He was rarely a jerk, often sarcastic and maybe a little rude, but rarely ever this bad. He hadn't really wanted to mess up the man's day, he'd just wanted to do something, anything, to let go of some of his frustration but he'd forgotten in the heat of his anger that he didn't have the right to take it out on other people. He rarely got angry, but when he did, it was because he'd let it build up for too long and then it came out in petty, childish, and dickish things.

Miller snorted, nodding, “Well, I have always wanted to do that. Press all the buttons in an elevator.” He may be screwed, but at least the guy responsible for it was cute. He was angry, but there was no point in arguing anymore. What was done was done and yelling wasn't going to fix it.

“Me, too. Just, you know, under different circumstances.”

“That would have been nice. I've always found elevator rides are a lot more enjoyable when the sarcasm and fighting is kept to a minimum.”

“Sorry about that, again. I was a jerk, wasn't I?” Monty asked, rubbing the back of his neck, embarrassed by his earlier outburst.

“Yes, but a cute jerk, so it kind of balances out,” Miller told him, not realizing what he had said until it was too late. “I, uh, I didn't- I just meant that-”

“No, no, I got it,” Monty nodded, looking at the floor as his cheeks burned. The guy had called him cute, which was probably going to be the highlight of Monty's week if he was honest with himself. Leave it to him to get into a fight with someone only to come out the other side with a crush. “I'll try to be less of a jerk.”

“And I'll hold the door next time,” Miller compromised.

Monty smiled at him, biting his lip as he considered doing one more potentially life ruining thing, “Hey, uh-” He cut off, realizing that he'd never actually gotten the man's name. He looked up at him in question and it took a second for the man to catch on but when he did he laughed.

“Right, sorry. I'm Nathan Miller,” He introduced himself.

“Monty Green,” Monty smiled at him. He took a breath, watching the doors open and close a couple of times while he considered whether he really should do this and whether or not it would end badly. It might, it probably would, but he'd already done one reckless thing, he might as well try for two.

As the elevator doors closed on the twenty-seventh floor, Monty rushed out, “Would you maybe want to, I don't know, get lunch with me today? On me? Not like a date, just as an apology for making you even later? Unless you want it to be a date, then, I guess, I mean-”

“Yeah,” Miller cut him off, smiling in amusement as he nodded. “Yeah, I'd like that. It's a date.” Even if Monty was stubborn, he did seem sincerely sorry for making Miller late, and he was just this side of awkward and Miller found him adorable, so why not? It wasn't like they had to worry about bad first impressions anymore.

“A date,” Monty nodded, grinning. “Okay, good. Uh, noon, then?” He asked as the elevator doors opened on his floor.

“Sure,” Miller agreed.

Monty gave him one last smile and left the elevator, waving like a dork as he did so. Maybe working here wouldn't be so bad, after all.

Miller shook his head, still smiling and leaned over to press the door close button, earning an indignant look from Monty. He laughed as the doors closed, Monty pouting cutely on the other side.

He leaned back, looking at his watch. He was over half an hour late, there was no way he was going to make it to the meeting in time, but he did have a cute lunch date, so maybe it wasn't all bad. There would be other promotions in his future but he highly doubted he'd ever meet anyone like Monty again, so he wasn't as mad as he probably should have been. Besides, he could always just blame his roommate if they asked, hopefully they'd understand.

Several lunch dates, a few dinner dates, and four months later, Miller was running late again, but this time it wasn't Murphy's doing, and as he laughed at Monty struggling to find a pair of matching socks in his half asleep state, he couldn't help but think that trying to close the door on the most surprisingly stubborn and genius IT guy the building had was one of the best things he'd ever done. Monty rolled his eyes at his snickering boyfriend, the same thought running through his mind, because even if they'd started out angry, the one bedroom apartment they now shared had only ever seen one fight, and it hadn't been between them, so it had worked out well enough. And as Miller fumbled for his phone with one hand and pulled Monty down onto their bed with the other, he decided that, despite it not being anything like the way he'd imagined they would meet, he wouldn't change a thing.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Feedback is loved. I'm [here](http://assholemurphy.tumblr.com/)


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